Articles of furniture comprise a generally well-understood area of endeavor. In many cases articles of furniture are statically placed; once placed in a specific location they are not moved during ordinary use. In other cases, however, the end user (such as an authorized attendant) will position and reposition the article of furniture on a more dynamic basis. This can comprise, for example, moving the article of furniture some considerable distance at least once a month or week or even multiple times in a single day.
The ease with which an attendant can move a given article of furniture varies with a variety of factors including the nature of the surface upon which the article rests. Whether the flooring is carpeted or comprises vinyl, stone tile, or wood, for example, can significantly impact how easily the end user can move the article of furniture.
Wheels (such as but not limited to casters) are sometimes employed to facilitate moving an article of furniture. Wheels, unfortunately, also make it easier to inadvertently move that same article of furniture at an inopportune time. It may be useful, for example, to provide wheels on the legs of a table to facilitate moving that table when desired. Those same wheels, however, make it considerably more likely that that table will be inadvertently and inappropriately moved at other times, too. For example, a person who is rising from their chair and who presses upon the table to assist themselves in rising may cause the table to roll on its wheels and hence move from a desired location.
A locking mechanism can of course be employed to lock such wheels from rolling. Such an approach, however, can lead to other concerns including overall ease of use, safety, and efficiency.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.